How Sheldon Lee Cooper Ended Up Kissing Amy Farrah Fowler
by melodyfair05
Summary: Which emotion will finally push Sheldon to initiate a kiss? Intended to be a multi-chapter fic, each chapter tackling a different emotion - and, of course, each chapter ending with a nugget of Shamy fluff. Chapter One: Pride.


**A/N: I just adore these two. **

* * *

It was in conference room H at the Los Angeles Crowne Plaza that Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper found himself without words.

25 days ago, Amy had received a phone call while at his and Leonard's apartment that inspired such a dramatic reaction Sheldon suspected she'd been nominated for a Nobel Prize. Expressing such levels of pride and glee (and at such extreme decibels) could only have been tied to an achievement that majestic, in Sheldon's opinion. He was wrong. Amy had been tapped as the keynote speaker at a prestigious gathering of peers and leaders in her field, to present and discuss her findings from her addition study. For Sheldon, the selection would have inspired levels of fear and anxiety roughly on par with Amy's joy. It appeared that public speaking was one of few topics on which their opinions differed.

"Can you believe it?" Amy squealed, jumping up and down, clutching her cell phone to her chest. "They want me!"

"Ames, I'm so proud of you," Penny smiled, getting up from her perch on the armchair and hugging Amy, who continued to bounce on the balls of her feet, grinning.

"That's fantastic, Amy," said Leonard from the chair, warring with whether to get up and attempt to hug Amy or let his praise remain strictly vocal. He was pretty comfortable. "Really fantastic," he echoed.

"Penny – what will I wear?" Amy suddenly turned to Penny with a pleading look. "I'm supremely confident in my research and my presentation style, but attire is another story. Will you help me? My ensemble goal is an amalgamation of Lawyer Barbie and Hillary Clinton."

Sheldon looked at Penny through narrowed eyes. She had the expression on her face that she last wore when Leonard talked about bench pressing. If precedent were followed, she'd be laughing in fewer than five seconds. If she ruined the happiness of this moment for Amy, he was prepared to levy a strike. Slowly, he shook his head pointedly at Penny. She swallowed as though she'd taken a golf ball down her larynx and simply said, "We'll work on it, Amy."

* * *

Sheldon was overwhelmed by the number of people in the room. He had attended far more academic conferences than he cared to discuss, and many of them had had attendees whose numbers eclipsed those of the space he was currently in. However, something in his perspective had shifted. All he could focus on was the fact that Amy was required to mount a stage at the head of all these people (all these people!) and speak to them about her work. He felt nauseated.

"Good turnout, huh?" observed Leonard, clinking the ice around in his plastic punch cup.

"Good?" echoed Sheldon in a high-pitched voice. "I should say not! With every additional person who enters the doors, Amy's audience grows. 'Good' is not the word I would attribute to that result."

"Aw," said Leonard, grinning. "You're nervous for her. That's nice. She'll be fine. Amy's a pro."

"I am most certainly not nervous for her," Sheldon said hotly. "Though the twisting of my entrails and quickness of my pulse are both symptoms of a nervous temperament, I…" he trailed off, unsure how to end the sentence. Leonard's grin expanded. A low, repetitive thumping interrupted their conversation – a balding man was tapping his index finger against the microphone attached to the front podium.

"Better get to our seats," Leonard said quietly, heading toward the front of the room. He stopped upon realizing Sheldon was not with him but standing still, eyes huge, looking for all the world as if he were about to be dragged onstage himself. Leonard sighed and backpedaled.

"Would you rather stand?" he asked Sheldon exasperatedly. "I think she said she'll be speaking for about 45 minutes."

"Her presentation is 48 minutes and 14 seconds when spoken aloud, leaving 3.5 seconds for laughter at humorous moments," Sheldon murmured. "We timed it two evenings ago on Skype."

"Ooookay," Leonard said, "great. I'm gonna sit down."

Sheldon didn't respond. Amy had walked out from behind the curtain and taken a seat behind and to the right of the podium, looking calm and serious. Sheldon wasn't sure what clothing came standard with Lawyer Barbie, but he thought her black blazer and skirt were conservative and sensible– both words he liked, and associated with Amy. In a departure from her normal clothing color palette, her chiffon blouse was a shocking pink, as were the pumps on her feet. Penny's influence could not be escaped, Sheldon sighed to himself, but overall she looked…quite nice.

His introduction inexplicably finished (when had he even begun talking?), the balding man stepped away from the podium and Amy stepped to it, pausing to shake his hand. The applause which filled the room as she stood died away as she adjusted the microphone imperceptibly and looked down at her notes. When Amy raised her head, she took one sweeping look around the hall from right to left, stopping when her eyes met Sheldon's on the far side of the room. Her face breaking into a sunny smile, and still holding Sheldon's gaze, she began. "Esteemed colleagues…"

She looked away. Sheldon released a breath he was not aware he'd been holding. For the next 48 minutes (give or take 14 seconds), he watched her, awed. She was as confident a public speaker as he'd ever seen – the audience laughed at her jokes, took notes at key points, and was generally rapt. Having committed her presentation to memory, Sheldon did not waste any focus on listening to her words. His attention pendulumed back and forth between the captive and the captivator. It was not until a storm of applause broke loose that he realized she had finished. Amy remained standing at the podium for a few beats longer, smiling, soaking in the approval.

And although it had nothing to do with a Nobel Prize, it was a majestic moment for Sheldon.

The lights came up, and as people stood and stretched, Amy descended from the stage and walked into a crowd of colleagues and admirers intent upon congratulating her. Sheldon approached the shifting nucleus of people hesitantly. As one person stepped away, two more seemed to appear, pushing to shake her hand and compliment her research. An opening appeared that cut a line straight to her side, and almost before he realized the destination, his feet were traveling the path. When he got to her, and she turned to him, eyes sparkling, his heart felt...full.

"Amy," he said, taking her hands. "I'm proud of you." His voice was filled with wonder.

She looked surprised, but flattered, and glanced from their joined hands to his face. "Really?"

Sheldon found himself without words. And for the first time in his life, he felt he knew a way to express himself more accurately than using them. And that is how, in conference room H, Sheldon Lee Cooper found himself kissing Amy Farrah Fowler.

* * *

**I have some ideas for other emotions to tackle, but if you've got something good, please don't keep it to yourself!**


End file.
